Elex First Impressions

Finished the game last night as a level 46 cleric using a combination of high tech guns and two handed weapons. Loved it. Definatly GOTY so far.

The world, the setting, the exploration, the lore is all top notch. It kept me interested to the very end.

Things that i'd like to see improved are:
The gunplay. It feels a bit off. The varity of guns is also abit low. Where are the handguns for example? It's still alright but not as good as in other games. Fallout 4 comes to mind.
I think I'd rather have no voiceacting at all. Voiceacting needs to be really good if I'm to appreciate it.
Animations could use some work. Combat should feel more impactful - goes back to the gunplay.
Would've loved to have some big dungeons to explore.

Those are all nitpicks though. Overall a fantastic game. Can't wait for Elex 2!

Just finished - level 42 beserker. I enjoyed the game, far more than than I thought I would. In the end the story kind of worked and the seemingly jarring world also made sense and grew on me.

I still think there are some balance issues with weapons types and damage - basically being a melee character is harder than someone with a energy weapons/flame thrower etc. Which everyone seems to have later in the game.There should have been more counters like shields blocking ranged attacks etc. Turns out if I upgraded my energy shield (not berserker kit -) to level 3 I could block most weapons fire, but the stats required are so high that even at level 42 (end game) I didn't meet them. I didn't want to take endless elex potions since that a) diminishes levelling up and b) turns you into an emotionless robot I'm not sure what you do if you are a two handed specialist with very limited blocking? Basically, I went with the berserker for magic and melee (sword and board), and except for the elemental attacks found magic underwhelming, not like Gothic for example. I also maxed out my fires resistance (survival) and had a +20 ring of fire resistance - I didn't notice any difference when I got hit with fire attacks. Perhaps that was a bug though?

Thanks for the impressions @booboo since I want to go Berserker. My main worry is not meeting enough of their requirements to join later.

At times I feel like Jax is just a big snitch and betrayer of confidence. So many quests have you ratting out people who confided in you. Sometimes I think they deserve it but often they are good people.

I started over and noticed this time how subtle the quest system is - which is a major pro for the game IMO. For example once quest I had certain dialogue choices open to me … but I did the same one this time with Duras (before I was solo) and I never got a peaceful option because I had a berserker with me. I ended up sending him back to camp for a bit.

Redid the quest and got a solid pledge which I had never gotten with two other ways of doing the quest. So that is cool but also worries me that I might accidentally lock myself out of the faction I want.

So the tip here is be aware this isn't like many modern games where you are given all options for quests. There are tons of hidden quests stuff that only shows up depending on many different variables - past conversations, current conversations, your companions, and so on.

Unrelated I am hoping someone can tell me a spoiler - mainly because I have made a choice and just want to know what the other outcome is. It relates to Orik and the Mysterious Aura.

Spoiler

I know what happens if you betray him and he gets exiled. But what if you protect him? Does he get exposed anyhow? Does he turn into a mad mutant or an Alb?

-- Character is centrality, the impossibility of being displaced or overset. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Yeah man, the quest system is insane. It's very subtle. You should pay attention to every response you make because it can make a huge difference, both in the current quest and quests you may receive in the future.

Last night I

Spoiler

ticked off Orik by not telling him Calgrim sent me at the start of the conversation. I.e. I asked him questions, etc., then later told him Calgrim sent me because he seemed like a nice guy and I'm still a bit lukewarm on trusting that Calgrim fellow. Well, he was mad I didn't tell him at the start and gave me no more info! I was blown away. I had never thought about the actual order of what you say making a big impact, but it definitely does. He commented that "Oh, you interrogate me here and then tell me you're with Calgrim? What are you, a spy!?"

Crazy stuff.

This is one of the greatest RPGs I've ever played. It's my favorite open-world since Skyrim and probably really since Morrowind. In many ways it's like a very upgraded Morrowind in design, and closest to my ideal type of RPG, at least in terms of the open-world design, most of the balancing, the overall pace and challenge and more. And the balancing and other details I'm seeing after 100 hours is just astounding. They are freaking masters, man, Piranha Bytes.

Originally Posted by wolfgrimdark
So everyone turns Orik in? Poor guy. Spent an hour on google and can't find anyone who has recorded what happens if you don't

Hmm, I didn't. The first time I didn't complete the quest to choose, but just now I ended up not even getting the quest because he got mad at me, lol. And then Calgrim was upset I couldn't get any information either. A double fail.

Deleted User

From Gamepressure:
When you meet Orik don't tell him that Caldrim sent you, or the conversation will end and the quest will be failed. He will tell you all about his seed experiments (100XP) and promise to share the results in the future. After that, go back to Caldrim. You can:
Betray Orik and tell Caldrim about the experiments. You get 200 Elexit.
Protect Orik's business and don't tell anything to Caldrim. The latter will not trust you, hence giving no prize.

Originally Posted by Corwin
From Gamepressure:
When you meet Orik don't tell him that Caldrim sent you, or the conversation will end and the quest will be failed. He will tell you all about his seed experiments (100XP) and promise to share the results in the future. After that, go back to Caldrim. You can:
Betray Orik and tell Caldrim about the experiments. You get 200 Elexit.
Protect Orik's business and don't tell anything to Caldrim. The latter will not trust you, hence giving no prize.

Thanks Aye this I know from doing the quest. What I don't know, that I am really curious about, is that if you protect him does something happen? Like does he turn into a mutant and attack people? Does he become like an Alb? Is there some kind of incident because he is taking mana purified ELEX.

I am just curious if there is a real consequence to protecting him is all

-- Character is centrality, the impossibility of being displaced or overset. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Originally Posted by Damian
One thing to note is that the the played time stat is a lie. It doesnt record the time you spent dying and reloading. I probably spent double the time than what it says.

The timestamps on the save games work exactly as they're supposed to. They show the exact amount of time you've spent on that save without dying. If you want to see the total amount of time you've spent on the game then you check Steam.

Originally Posted by JDR13
The timestamps on the save games work exactly as they're supposed to. They show the exact amount of time you've spent on that save without dying. If you want to see the total amount of time you've spent on the game then you check Steam.

Originally Posted by wolfgrimdark
Thanks Aye this I know from doing the quest. What I don't know, that I am really curious about, is that if you protect him does something happen? Like does he turn into a mutant and attack people? Does he become like an Alb? Is there some kind of incident because he is taking mana purified ELEX.

I am just curious if there is a real consequence to protecting him is all

I'm curious about Orik too - I didn't turn him in, but nothing happened in my game afterwards? I went back to the fields to look…maybe he's somewhere else in the game world. Or perhaps he'll make an appearance in Elex 2! Which I'm now actually looking forward to ;-)

Man, this game continues to burn up the Steam charts, at least the reviews. I'm seeing some very promising stuff there.

As of November 6, 2532 reviews are in and 74% of them are positive. That's actually up from 73% several hundred reviews ago. Remarkable stuff.

I'm also seeing a lot of reviews with large chunks of time played. It's very easy to see reviews with a minimum of 40 hours played, to lots of 70/80 and over 100.

I've played almost 100 hours and am just now seeing and figuring out some of the crazy details in the game. The quest system is flat out amazing. You must pay attention to the text and your choices based on subtle cues can make all the difference in how a quest plays out. And the scope and scale of the game is second to none, exploring large ruins is breathtaking and exciting, and you never feel that the huge world is at all empty in any way.

All in all, I'm shocked at how good the game is, but I'm even more impressed that Steam gamers are really into it. I expected Mixed level reviews honestly, and the only "mixed" or poor reviews have been from reviewers who work for big websites, and those reviews unfortunately often include false information in them. It seems many of those reviewers don't understand the game very well, if at all, and some even play it flat out "wrong" in the sense that they are not taking the cues from the game and properly applying them. No disrespect intended, just stating the truth. I think PB would do well to better explain certain things in their "design philosophy" for players new to the Piranha Bytes Formula.

But the good news from it all is still the positive Steam reviews. Congrats to PB on that! I hope that ELEX was/is a big success for them.

Nice, hah. It's cool that we seem to agree that it's a really good game. I restarted for a YouTube series and man, I'm seeing a bunch of new stuff already that I missed initially. The world is just ginormous.